XP Home account problems

[JustMe]

Having problems with a Dell laptop running XP Home sp2. I have extensive
experience with XP Pro, Win2k and NT but XP Home is something new. It
appears it isn't anything Pro despite the name similarity. The first time I
experienced Home, I immediately repartitioned the drive and bought a boxed
copy of Pro. I knew it was junk. ME lives.

So, my son comes to me with his Dell laptop and it's loaded with malware of
all sorts. No firewall, no virus scanner, no anti-spyware. This thing isn't
even connected to the web and it's loaded with popups. He's lost the Dell
reinstallation disks and they're no longer available. So I manage to get
this thing cleaned out. Absolutely pristine.

At this point I realize I need to get control of this thing by creating user
accounts with limited rights. I've been logging in with an account I'd
believed was a member of the administrators group because I've not had any
trouble using administrator privileges. There's no password assigned to this
account and no one seems to know what the default administrators UN and PW
is. The system boots up and logs right in all by itself.

Allright, I open control panel and click on "User Accounts"... nothing
happens. Right click, open. Again nothing. Start Run NUSRMGR.CPL. More
nothing. It seems I can't access the User Accounts Tool. I assume maybe I'm
working with a "Limited Account". I restart and go to Safe Mode. Two
accounts show. A named account and "Administrator". I choose Administrator
and press return. I'm in. Looks like no PW. Try to access User Accounts
again and get the same results. Can't use the tool. ???? Go to Start Run and
type "control userpasswords2". Bingo, I'm in. Try to apply a PW to the
default administrator account and find out "reset password" is grayed out
and there's no way to enter a PW. I then note the account I was using is
actually a member of the administrators group and not a limited account as
suspected.

OK, I guess the questions are:
Is this normal behavior for XP Home?
How do I apply a PW to the Default administrator account?
How do I get to use the User Account tool?

FWIW, Mcafee, Windows Defender, Bazooka, Hijack This, Spybot and CWShreder
all say this system is clean but you know how that goes.

 

[Sunny]

Have you tried Control Panel | User Accounts ?

 

[Claymore]

Hi,

A couple of things to check:

How to check if you are an Administrator:
Right-click on the Start button. You should see 'Open All Users' and
'Explore All Users'.

--------------------------------------------------

There is always an Administrator account (unless you work hard to
disable it, which it doesn't sound like you would have done.)

Go to the login screen, with nobody still logged in, and hit
Ctrl-Alt-Del twice; you should then see the old-style login used in
Win2000 & NT4. Enter the name of "Administrator" and the password you
supplied when setting up your computer. or blank if no password has
been assigned. That should log you in as THE Administrator.

--------------------------------------------------

 

[Nepatsfan]

(e-mail address removed),

Having problems with a Dell laptop running XP Home sp2. I
have extensive experience with XP Pro, Win2k and NT but XP
Home is something new. It appears it isn't anything Pro
despite the name similarity. The first time I experienced
Home, I immediately repartitioned the drive and bought a
boxed copy of Pro. I knew it was junk. ME lives.
So, my son comes to me with his Dell laptop and it's loaded
with malware of all sorts. No firewall, no virus scanner, no
anti-spyware. This thing isn't even connected to the web and
it's loaded with popups. He's lost the Dell reinstallation
disks and they're no longer available. So I manage to get
this thing cleaned out. Absolutely pristine.
At this point I realize I need to get control of this thing
by creating user accounts with limited rights. I've been
logging in with an account I'd believed was a member of the
administrators group because I've not had any trouble using
administrator privileges. There's no password assigned to
this account and no one seems to know what the default
administrators UN and PW is. The system boots up and logs
right in all by itself.
Allright, I open control panel and click on "User
Accounts"... nothing happens. Right click, open. Again
nothing. Start Run NUSRMGR.CPL. More nothing. It seems I
can't access the User Accounts Tool. I assume maybe I'm
working with a "Limited Account". I restart and go to Safe
Mode. Two accounts show. A named account and
"Administrator". I choose Administrator and press return.
I'm in. Looks like no PW. Try to access User Accounts again
and get the same results. Can't use the tool. ???? Go to
Start Run and type "control userpasswords2". Bingo, I'm in.
Try to apply a PW to the default administrator account and
find out "reset password" is grayed out and there's no way
to enter a PW. I then note the account I was using is
actually a member of the administrators group and not a
limited account as suspected.
OK, I guess the questions are:
Is this normal behavior for XP Home?
How do I apply a PW to the Default administrator account?
How do I get to use the User Account tool?

FWIW, Mcafee, Windows Defender, Bazooka, Hijack This, Spybot
and CWShreder all say this system is clean but you know how
that goes.

To answer your first question, that's not normal behavior in XP
Home Edition. Both accounts, Administrator and the named
account, should have been able to run User Accounts in Control
Panel. Nusrmgr.cpl should be present in the C:\Windows\System32
folder. You might want to see if you can launch it directly
from that folder.

If you just want to add a password to the built-in
Administrator account try the following:

Go back and run control userpasswords2. Put a check mark in the
box next to "Users must enter a user name and password". This
should make the "Reset Password" button in the "Password for
Administrator" box active.

If that doesn't work, go to Start -> Run and enter cmd.exe in
the Open box.
At the command prompt enter the following,

net user administrator *

You will be prompted to enter a new password. Type the password
and hit enter. Type the password again to confirm that it's
correct.

Since you've got the command prompt window open, you might want
to add a password to the named account.

While the scans you ran may have removed a lot of malware, it
sounds like some serious damage was done to the system. The
problem you're having launching User Accounts may just be one
of many issues. And, as you already know, not having the
installation CD is a real problem.

Before I forget, in XP Home, you'll have to create another
administrator account (in addition to the built-in
Administrator) before you can demote your son's account to
limited status.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Mak]

OK, I guess the questions are:
Is this normal behavior for XP Home?
How do I apply a PW to the Default administrator account?
How do I get to use the User Account tool?

Hi, yes, this is normal for both Home and Pro - you can't use 'Reset
Password' from 'nusrmgr.cpl' or 'control userpasswords2' for currently
logged in user, read what the message says in front of this button... (you
were logged in as Administrator and were trying to use 'Reset Password' for
Administrator). You can do this in Pro by using lusrmgr.msc snapin.. but
it's not available in Home. (net user /? - from command prompt will give you
another way)

"User Account tool" is "broken" on your son's computer, maybe .cpl file
only... and there are no more problems, but... I'd re-install to make sure
this computer is 'just' mine... (if you can find Dell OEM XP Home CD).

 

[JustMe]

Have you tried Control Panel | User Accounts ?

Well yeah, that's when I figured out it doesn't work.

"Allright, I open control panel and click on "User Accounts"... nothing
happens. Right click, open. Again nothing"

 

[JustMe]

Hi,

A couple of things to check:

How to check if you are an Administrator:
Right-click on the Start button. You should see 'Open All Users' and
'Explore All Users'.

--------------------------------------------------

There is always an Administrator account (unless you work hard to
disable it, which it doesn't sound like you would have done.)

Go to the login screen, with nobody still logged in, and hit
Ctrl-Alt-Del twice; you should then see the old-style login used in
Win2000 & NT4. Enter the name of "Administrator" and the password you
supplied when setting up your computer. or blank if no password has
been assigned. That should log you in as THE Administrator.

--------------------------------------------------

I pretty much aaccomplished the same thing by using safe mode. It
forces a GUI display of all users including the Administrator. I logged
in as the Administrator from there. The User Accounts applet still
doesn't work.

 

[JustMe]

Hi,

A couple of things to check:

How to check if you are an Administrator:
Right-click on the Start button. You should see 'Open All Users' and
'Explore All Users'.

--------------------------------------------------

There is always an Administrator account (unless you work hard to
disable it, which it doesn't sound like you would have done.)

Go to the login screen, with nobody still logged in, and hit
Ctrl-Alt-Del twice; you should then see the old-style login used in
Win2000 & NT4. Enter the name of "Administrator" and the password you
supplied when setting up your computer. or blank if no password has
been assigned. That should log you in as THE Administrator.

--------------------------------------------------

I pretty much accomplished the same thing by using safe mode. It forces
a GUI display of all users including the Administrator. I logged in as
the Administrator from there. The User Accounts applet still doesn't
work.

 

[JustMe]

(e-mail address removed),


To answer your first question, that's not normal behavior in XP
Home Edition. Both accounts, Administrator and the named
account, should have been able to run User Accounts in Control
Panel. Nusrmgr.cpl should be present in the C:\Windows\System32
folder. You might want to see if you can launch it directly
from that folder.

Oh, thanks. I'll look for it.

If you just want to add a password to the built-in
Administrator account try the following:

Go back and run control userpasswords2. Put a check mark in the
box next to "Users must enter a user name and password". This
should make the "Reset Password" button in the "Password for
Administrator" box active.

OK, didn't know about that. I'll try it.

If that doesn't work, go to Start -> Run and enter cmd.exe in
the Open box.
At the command prompt enter the following,

net user administrator *

You will be prompted to enter a new password. Type the password
and hit enter. Type the password again to confirm that it's
correct.

Thanks again, something else I didn't know.

Since you've got the command prompt window open, you might want
to add a password to the named account.

I did just that using control usernames2

While the scans you ran may have removed a lot of malware, it
sounds like some serious damage was done to the system. The
problem you're having launching User Accounts may just be one
of many issues. And, as you already know, not having the
installation CD is a real problem.

Before I forget, in XP Home, you'll have to create another
administrator account (in addition to the built-in
Administrator) before you can demote your son's account to
limited status.

Done that also and renamed THE administrator

 

[JustMe]

Hi, yes, this is normal for both Home and Pro - you can't use 'Reset
Password' from 'nusrmgr.cpl' or 'control userpasswords2' for currently
logged in user, read what the message says in front of this button...

OK, I'll look for it. Poor vision tends to make me go on auto pilot
when looking at a window II think I'm familiar with. Been caught up by
that any number of times. Thanks for the catch.
(you

were logged in as Administrator and were trying to use 'Reset Password' for
Administrator).

Yes I was

You can do this in Pro by using lusrmgr.msc snapin.. but

it's not available in Home. (net user /? - from command prompt will give you
another way)

Thanks I'll try it.

"User Account tool" is "broken" on your son's computer, maybe .cpl file
only... and there are no more problems, but... I'd re-install to make sure
this computer is 'just' mine...

That's a distinct possibility. Good idea.

(if you can find Dell OEM XP Home CD).

I have a number of Dell XP Pro reinstallation CD's but nothing with XP
Home. I could go out and buy a boxed copy of XP Pro upgrade and then
chase down the Dell drivers and add in's.. I think I'll hit the Dell
site again and see for myself what's available for an Insperion 8600
Thanks for the advice, Some good info there.